Down by the Sea
by Downtonluvr
Summary: The Bates family spends a day by the sea.


_**A/N: This is in response to a prompt from Awesomegreentie. Just some Bates family fluff. Please review. **_

_**Down By the Sea**_

John Bates had never considered himself a lucky man, at least not until he met Anna. But even then the circumstances would dictate that they were not meant to be. Still she gave him a reason to rise each morning and smile a natural smile each morning in the servants hall. Who could have known what that their friendship would blossom into something more? Certainly not John Bates.

Yet here he was, out on a lovely afternoon walking the path along the sea shore with Anna at his side. The road to happiness had not been an easy one, but they found it eventually in a seaside inn they managed not far from Downton. John turned to see his wife beaming at their daughter, Charlotte, as she ran ahead of them. She was every bit the spitting image of her father with dark brown locks and hazel eyes. But she had inherited her mother's adventurous and independent nature.

"Try not to ruin your dress my darling. Mummy just mended it," Anna reminded her as Charlotte ran off the path to climb on some rocks. She certainly was testing her limits for a four year old.

"I won't," she replied while struggling to pull herself up. Charlotte had spotted a flower growing between the cracks of the sea wall and would stop at nothing to get it.

John shook his head as he let out a chuckle. They were certainly going to have their hands full with her. Then his attentions were drawn to the small gurgles of their youngest child, Rose. She had all the fair features he had come to love in Anna, including a set of piercing, sky blue eyes. He stopped pushing her carriage for a moment and tucked the blanket tighter around her face when he noticed her cheeks getting red. "Let me guess, you want to go off on an adventure too now don't you?" John asked. Their baby was less than a year old now but she smiled at the cheerful tone with which her father spoke. "You'll have to be patient Rosie, my love. Daddy is not quite ready for you to test your sea legs just yet."

"She'll be walking before we know it if she's anything like Charlotte," Anna said with a heavy sigh. As happy as she was to see her children thrive, time was moving too fast. It seemed like only yesterday they barely had Charlotte and now Rosie was nearly a year old. Time had made no exceptions for them either, but in her opinion John looked ten years younger since they had left Downton and that suited her just fine.

As if sensing her mother's displeasure at the thought of them growing older, Rose reached her hands up towards Anna, having recognized her mother's voice. "Come to me my sweetheart," Anna said as she retrieved her from the carriage. She held her daughter with the utmost care and kept Rosie's body covered from the wind that was whipping off the water. Anna placed a kiss in Rosie's feather-light hair and rocked her gently while keeping pace with John.

Rosie wriggled excitedly in her mother's arms, her hands flailing wrecklessly as she made futile attempts to communicate with them. John's heart swelled with pride as he watched Anna with either of their daughters, a dream that had been yearned for and nearly abandoned. But now they were happier than they had ever thought possible.

"Mummy! Daddy! Look what I found!" Charlotte called out as she ran back to them with a large stick in one hand and a handful of flowers and seashells in the other.

"Slow down little monkey," John replied with his arms stretched out to receive her. It was a term he lovingly used when referring to his eldest who often reminded him of the small monkeys he had seen in Africa during the Boers War. "Daddy doesn't want you falling and hurting yourself with the stick," he explained.

Charlotte was fearless and paid no mind to his warning as she fought the wind to keep her dark curls out of her face. Charlotte noticed her mother eyeing the torn hem of her dress when she quickly said, "Mummy I'm sorry but I wanted these for you." Charlotte extended her chubby hand that clutched the pink, delicate, wildflowers.

Some of the petals had fallen off in the process or had become smashed but they were no less perfect in Anna's eyes than if she had received an award winning bouquet from the Downton flower show. "Now how can I be mad when such an effort was made to make me happy?" Anna asked before pressing a kiss onto Charlotte's cheek. Then Anna whispered into Charlotte's shell of an ear, "I love them. It's the best gift you've ever given me."

The compliment drew a smile upon Charlotte's pudgy cheeks. "And these are for Rosie," Charlotte added as she proudly held up two seashells.

Anna took the seashells from her and humored Charlotte by holding them up for Rosie. "Look at what your sister got for you my sweetheart." Rosie smiled before burying her head into Anna's shoulder and gumming at her dress. "I think she loves them," Anna said.

"Yeah?"

"Oh definitely," Anna answered back.

"My, my. Such a generous little girl you are," John praised her. "And what about for Daddy?" he asked.

Between her small digits, propped up on her thumb and forefinger, sat a shiny little pearl. "It's pwetty," she said sweetly.

"I'll say. Are you sure you don't want it for yourself?" John asked as he turned it over in his fingers.

Without hesitation, Charlotte shook her head back and forth, "No. The stick is for me."

"What could you possibly want from a stick?" Anna asked with curiosity.

"To walk with it," the little girl answered. She turned the stick over in her hand and held it vertically so that it reached to her shoulder.

"Why would you want to walk with it?" John asked, knowing full well it would only slow her down as she so often liked to run ahead.

"So I can walk like you, Daddy."

John and Anna sat there with their mouths agape staring at their daughter. He had been naive to think his injury would go unnoticed for long, but he had hoped that his children would not voice their misgivings about it until they were much older.

Sensing that she had said something wrong, the little girl averted her eyes so that she was focused on the stick in her hand.

John came down to Charlotte's level, balancing himself on his cane. Though it pained him to do so, he wanted to face this head on. "Charlotte, do you know why Daddy walks with a cane?"

"No," she answered honestly.

"Daddy, got hurt a long time ago," he explained in a soft voice.

"Do you need a band aid?" she asked.

"No. It won't ever get better darling."

"How did you get hurt?"

He didn't think his child should hear of such horrors, but he'd rather she heard it from him than anyone else. John tried to simplify things into terms she could understand. "Daddy got hurt fighting in a war."

"Like Thomas?" Charlotte asked.

Anna then remembered that she had seen Thomas's injury when they went to visit Downton a few months back. "Yes, like Thomas. Daddy saved Lord Grantham. He was a very brave soldier," Anna chimed in. She shifted the baby in her arms to keep Rosie from crying.

Charlotte became quiet as she processed what her parents had just told her. John then moved his hand underneath her chin and turned it to face him. John steeled himself for what his daughter might say in response to his question, but curiosity had gotten the better of him and he couldn't let this go. "Why would you want to walk like Daddy?"

"Because I love you," she said with a smile.

"That's all?" he asked as he tried to wrap his head around her statement.

She nodded her head in agreement.

John was taken aback by her words and stared back at her with tears in his eyes. He should have known that his daughter would not judge him or think little of him the way so many others had before him. No child of Anna's. He had never loved Charlotte more or been more proud of her than he was in that moment. "Oh Charlotte," John said as he dropped his cane and fell to his knees in the sand. He didn't care how much it would hurt him later as he pulled his daughter in for a hug. "Daddy, loves you so much. Never forget that my sweetheart," John said as he stroked her hair and peppered her face with kisses. He could feel Anna's hand come to rest on his shoulder as she gave him a reassuring squeeze.

When all was said and done he rose from his feet and they continued their stroll along the beach. John had a permanent smile fixed on his face as he watched both of his daughters. He finally felt like he had done something right in his life and nothing could take that feeling away.


End file.
